- A fleet of 13 Hurricane 5.9’s
- 18 F18’s
- 18 Spitfires
- 15 fast single handed cats (5 A class, 3 Shadows, 3 Inter 17’s and 4 Unicorns) and 6 fast double handed cats (Hurricane 5.9’s with kites)
With 70 cats sailing the same course, albeit with 4 staggered starts, this was going to be interesting!
The first race was held in a good F2, a nice easy opener for us all. Wade made his best start of the whole regatta hitting the line with clear air just a few seconds after the hooter. The first beat was uneventful but saw 3 A class stretching off into the distance very quickly. We mixed it with the Shadows and two of the A class leaving the Inter 17’s behind. Once around the windward mark a short reach was followed by the inevitable downwind leg where the Shadows and Inter 17’s stretched their legs. In the Unicorn battle Wade led from Piper followed by Rogers and Taylor. The order stayed that way throughout the hour long race. On corrected time Wade finished 5th, Piper 7th, Rogers 11th and Taylor 12th.
For the 2nd race the wind was edging towards a F3, the temperature must have hit nearly 20C and the sun was bright enough to need sunglasses. The race unfolded in a similar pattern but on the fourth lap Wade lost concentration after being overrun by an F18 Tiger on the beat to windward. Piper sailed passed and with Rogers reading the windshifts well he forged ahead of Piper by the windward mark. Wade was 200m adrift by the windward mark, he went down the centre of the course while Piper took port side and Rogers the starboard side. The finish could not have been closer, Rogers beating Piper by a nose with Wade half a boat length behind. On corrected times the positions were 9th, 10th and 11th with Taylor in 12th.
Race 3 saw a real ding dong battle between the Unicorns with everyone taking a share of the lead at some point. However, there was a great deal of action at the leeward mark, Piper, Rogers and Taylor were ahead but got caught in a melee with some F18’s while Wade hung back to get a clean line around the mark. That gave Wade a decisive advantage which he held to the finish. On corrected times positions were Wade 7th, Piper 8th, Taylor 9th and Rogers 11th.
The end of the first day saw Wade in equal 6th, Piper in 9th, Rogers in 11th and Taylor in 12th.
While Wade, Piper and Taylor collapsed to an early night, Rogers kept the Unicorn flag flying by joining in the party antics with the Shearwater and Hurricane mob. Given the range of activity from bottle to barrel walking and various feats of strength and agility it was a wonder there weren’t more calls for first aiders. Rogers was unscathyed apart from the need for a continuous supply of Nurofen the following morning!!
Sunday dawned even mistier than Saturday and racing was postponed until we could see the other side of the lake. We finally got on the water about 1130h to set of for three shortened races.
The same course was set and for race 4 we had a rather fickle F2. Wade reported a dismal race, making a poor start, then tacking onto port only to have to tack back to starboard. He also narrowly avoided disaster when on full song beating to the windward mark a Hurricane approached on port and tacked straight in front of him. Emergency action to bear away resulted in high speed contact being avoided by a few inches and a choice set of comments to the offending helm. Rogers had a cracking race pushing hard all the way and not making any errors to finish as the lead Unicorn in 6th place. Piper finished in 7th and Wade in 8th. Unfortunately Taylor did not make the race after pulling a back muscle getting his boat on the launching trolley.
The wind picked up to a good F3 for race 5 with a few strong gusts to keep you on your toes. Piper tacked away on port and got into a good rhythm. The starboard approach to the windward mark gave us all some exciting racing, with incoming port tackers trying to tack on the layline and causing some close calls. Thank goodness Unicorns can outpoint most and still go fast. In the excitement, Rogers let the main slip, and teabagged, allowing Wade to scream past. There was more drama on the approach to the leeward mark, with F18s, Spitfires etc. approaching on starboard at speed with their kites flying and sounding like doodlebugs. This necessitated some emergency last minute jibing, and rounding the mark in one piece required absolute concentration. Piper excelled finishing in 5th on corrected time. Wade and Rogers thought they had been given a hooter and stopped after two laps but unfortunately should have completed another lap so scored a DNC, otherwise known as a discard!!
Race 6 had a fresh breeze, a good F4 for ideal sailing conditions. The top reach was becoming an exhilarating, if rather short, blast and even the downwind legs had an exciting turn of speed. Piper led the Unicorn fleet around but also thought he was given a finishing hooter at the end of lap 2 so scored a DNC. Wade and Rogers sailed on to finish 6th and 7th.
Despite the limited reaching, where the Unicorns came into their own and could match or exceed the pace of other fast handicap cats, we all conceded that Gary had made the right decision. Racing had been close and exhilarating, and the performance of the Unicorns had surprised many others in the fast handicap fleet. Our thanks to the team at Grafham who treated us to a superb and well run event. We will be back!
The final results proved a decisive victory for the A class. Chris Field scored a very impressive set of six 1st places, Matt Causon had 4*2nd a 3rd and discarded a 4th. Nigel Lovett had 4*3rd a 2nd and discarded a 5th. Positions were:
A class Chris Field 1st 5 points
A class Matt Causon 2nd 11 points
A class Nigel Lovett 3rd 14 points
Shadow Oliver Harris 4th 21 points
I17 S Longstaff 5th 29 points
A class Roger Dewen 6th 34 points
Unicorn John Wade 7th 37 points
Unicorn Gary Piper 8th 37 points
I17 James Carrier 9th 44 points
Unicorn Iain Rogers 10th 44 points
I17 Mike Matrtin 11th 45 points
A class M Bainbridge 12th 58 points
Unicorn Richard Taylor 13th 65 points
Shadow David Brief 14th 74 points
Shadow Philip Neal 15th 80 points
